Exactly one week after a Supreme Court judge ruled that Elizabeth Thompson had been wrongfully terminated, Minister of Financial Services and Investments Allyson Maynard-Gibson on Monday blasted the former registrar general, calling her unprofessional, rude and anything but a team player.
“Numerous complaints were made that she completely ignored phone calls of important clients of the registry. When this was raised with her she responded that she didn’t have time for that,” said Minister Maynard-Gibson, who spent some time during her contribution to debate on the 2005-2006 budget to deal with the highly controversial issue.
“She found time to conduct marriages, however, sometimes pocketing up to $600 for each even though she had been given a directive to stop taking this work from other marriage officers. She spoke to the staff in a rude and disrespectful manner, sometimes quite literally brining them to tears,” Minister Maynard-Gibson claimed.
“She arbitrarily walked out of staff meetings. She made it clear
that she did not intend to be a team player. There is more, but I don’t think I need to go further.”
Leader of the Official Opposition Alvin Smith called Minister Maynard-Gibson a “coward”, telling her that parliament was not the place for her verbal attack. He encouraged the Speaker to prevent her from continuing.
But the Minister responded, “Mr. Speaker, I have no differences with anybody.”
Mr. Smith charged, “You are a coward. Why don’t you go out there and do it?”
The Minister appealed to House Speaker Oswald Ingraham to have Mr. Smith withdraw the remarks.
Mr. Smith then said, “She is acting like a coward.”
He pointed out that she spoke in the House of Assembly where its members have privilege and can speak with impunity and dared her to deliver her remarks outside the House.
Shortly after the Minister’s attack on her, Mrs. Thompson responded in an interview with The Bahama Journal.
“I would invite the good Minister to repeat her comments outside the halls of Parliament where privilege is obtained. Beyond that, all I would wish to say is that as a mere mortal I am in the company of the good Lord himself, who was persecuted, crucified, but thank God he rose again on the third day,” she said.
During her address in parliament, Minister Maynard-Gibson stressed the importance of teamwork.
“Suffice it to say that no one person is more important than a team as a whole and no one person should be prevented from enabling this initiative to move forward. When it was clear that something had to be done because she could not measure up to the standard required of a registrar and that she intended to obstruct rather than cooperate with the government’s mission of transformation for the Bahamian people she was offered another similarly high paying job,” Minister Maynard-Gibson said.
“She was not victimized. She was offered another similarly high-paying job with all the perks.”
She noted that several key persons in her Ministry met with Mrs. Thompson and outlined the failures with her performance.
Minister Maynard-Gibson revealed the government’s intention to appeal the Supreme Court ruling that found that government erred and acting improperly when it fired Ms. Thompson.
By: Tosheena Robinson-Blair, The Bahama Journal
